Maybe Sinofsky spoke up and quit. Or he spoke up -- one too many times for Ballmer -- and the CEO pulled a Tim Cook power play, called Bill Gates and had Sinofsky exiled.

But that's neither here nor there.

What really matters is that a guy like Benioff feels compelled to speak up about how absolutely awful the Surface tablet is. Relative to Apple's iPad, it's a piece of plastic. It will go nowhere fast in the consumer marketplace and, if Benioff is any gauge (and I think he is), it will die only a slightly slower death in enterprise.

Getting rid of Sinofsky wasn't a bad move, provided you had a viable plan B such as heaving a real, true fireball at Apple and bringing Scott Forstall on board. But that's not what Ballmer wants.

He got rid of the assertive, aggressive Sinofsky and put people in place he obviously perceives as lesser threats.

Bold move.

If you're a MSFT shareholder -- and it's one widely held name among retail and institutional investors -- you should be demanding that Ballmer's head rolls.

It shocks me that (A) there hasn't been that much outrage prior and up to this point and (B) Bill Gates is apparently taking Ballmer's side as he butchers Microsoft's apparent mobile rebirth.